Martel Williams
Introduction
Martel Williams, 27, of St. Louis, Missouri, pleaded guilty on October 26, 2026, in Hartford federal court to conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery, an offense known as Hobbs Act Robbery. The plea stemmed from his admitted involvement in an attempted robbery of Bitcoin in August 2024, when the people coordinating the plot recruited him and two associates from St. Louis to travel to Connecticut, stalk an intended target and his parents, and force their way into the family’s home to demand the transfer of cryptocurrency stolen in a theft of hundreds of millions of dollars. Williams abandoned the plan before the crew of Florida men who later arrived carried it out.
Background Information
The scheme grew out of the theft of hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoin by an individual whose parents became the plotters’ targets. According to court documents and statements made in court, on August 25, 2024, Danbury Police arrested six Florida men involved in a violent carjacking and the beating and kidnapping of two occupants of a vehicle — kidnapping victims who are the parents of that individual. In an attempt to steal some of the stolen Bitcoin, the coordinators of the attempted robbery and kidnapping first recruited Williams and two associates from St. Louis to carry out the plan.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Pleaded guilty. Williams admitted that he joined a coordinated plot to invade a Connecticut home and force a target to hand over stolen Bitcoin.
The underlying events began on August 25, 2024, when Danbury Police arrested six Florida men involved in a violent carjacking and the beating and kidnapping of two occupants of the vehicle. The investigation revealed that the kidnapping victims are the parents of an individual who participated in the theft of hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoin. According to court documents and statements made in court, the people who coordinated the attempted robbery and kidnapping sought to steal some of that Bitcoin, and to do so they first recruited Williams and two associates from St. Louis to carry out the plan.
Between approximately August 21 and August 24, 2024, Williams and others traveled to Connecticut and obtained rental vehicles and supplies, including air rifles, walkie talkies and a laptop computer. They then stalked the intended target and his parents over the course of two days, waiting for the opportunity to force their way into their home, where they would threaten the target and demand that he transfer the stolen cryptocurrency into accounts controlled by the scheme’s coordinators.
The home invasion never happened on Williams’s watch. Fearing that they had been captured on home security cameras, and frustrated by the plan and a lack of communication with their co-conspirators, Williams and his associates left Connecticut. Shortly thereafter, the crew from Florida arrived to carry out the plan — the same crew whose members Danbury Police arrested on August 25, 2024, after the violent carjacking and kidnapping that put the investigation in motion.
Williams, who was arrested on July 17, 2026, pleaded guilty the following October to conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery (“Hobbs Act Robbery”), an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years. His plea, announced by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut, admitted his role as a recruited operative in the reconnaissance phase of the plot rather than as one of the Florida men who executed the carjacking and kidnapping.
Public Reaction and Consequences
The guilty plea was announced by David X. Sullivan, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut. The offense to which Williams pleaded guilty carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years. The investigation behind it was conducted by the FBI New Haven Violent Crimes Task Force, FBI Los Angeles, FBI St. Louis, and the Danbury Police Department, with the FBI Task Force including members from the Connecticut State Police and several local police departments. Sullivan thanked the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Central District of California, the Eastern District of Missouri, the District of Columbia, and the District of New Jersey, and the State’s Attorney’s Office for the Judicial District of Danbury, for their assistance in the investigation and prosecution. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Karen L. Peck and Stephanie T. Levick.
Current Status
Williams is released pending sentencing, which is not scheduled. He was arrested on July 17, 2026, and pleaded guilty in Hartford federal court on October 26, 2026, admitting the Hobbs Act Robbery conspiracy charge against him; with the plea entered, the question before the court is his punishment, which can reach up to 20 years of imprisonment. The record in the release does not state what became of the six Florida men Danbury Police arrested on August 25, 2024, or of the individual whose theft of hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoin made Williams’s targets a mark; no sentencings or other outcomes for participants in the wider scheme are described.
Impact on Their Career/Life
Williams’s conviction record now includes a guilty plea to a federal violent-crime conspiracy, Hobbs Act Robbery, that admits he traveled from St. Louis to Connecticut, obtained rental vehicles, air rifles, walkie talkies and a laptop, and spent two days stalking a family as part of a plot to extort stolen cryptocurrency. At sentencing, not yet scheduled, he faces up to 20 years of imprisonment; until then he remains out of custody on release pending that hearing.
Sources
- U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Connecticut, “Missouri Man Admits Role in Cryptocurrency Robbery Scheme” — source